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Georgia Today: Warnock wins, Delta reaches deal with pilots, football championship week
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On the Wednesday Dec. 7 edition of Georgia Today: Raphael Warnock defeats Herschel Walker, Delta reaches a deal with pilots, and it is championship week for high school football in Georgia
Peter Biello: Welcome to the new Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Wednesday, December 7th. I'm Peter Biello. Coming up on today's episode, Sen. Raphael Warnock defeats Herschel Walker in the Senate runoff election. Delta Air Lines reaches a tentative deal with its pilots over a new contract. And it is a big week in high school sports as we get ready for the football championships. These stories and more are coming up on Georgia Today.
Story 1
Peter Biello: Incumbent Raphael Warnock clinched a victory late last night in a record-setting condensed runoff election for one of Georgia's U.S. Senate seats. The Democrat defeated Republican Herschel Walker, sending Warnock back to Washington for a full six-year term. GPB's Stephen Fowler was at Warnock's campaign headquarters, where he spoke about what it means to be a Georgian.
Stephen Fowler: Warnock supporters in a packed Atlanta ballroom were upbeat for most of the night as results came in, chanting "six more years" as Warnock took the stage to share a victory speech. He references Savannah roots and then thanked the people of Georgia for sending him back to the Senate for a full term.
Raphael Warnock: I am Georgia. I am an example of an iteration of its history, of its pain and its promise. Of the brutality and the possibility.
Stephen Fowler: Warnock narrowly beat Herschel Walker after neither candidate cleared 50% in November. For GPB News, I'm Stephen Fowler in downtown Atlanta.
Peter Biello: A few miles away in downtown Atlanta, Walker addressed his supporters soon after the race was called GPB's Riley Bunch has the story.
Riley Bunch: At the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. Walker made his way on stage around 11 p.m. to speak to the small crowd that's still gathered on the green turf. Major news outlets called the Georgia race minutes before, dealing a brutal blow to Georgia Republicans. But Walker urged supporters not to let the loss change how they feel about the country.
Herschel Walker: I don't want any of you to stop dreaming. I don't want any of you to stop believing in America. I want you to believe in America and continue to believe in the Constitution and believe in our elected officials, most of all.
Riley Bunch: For GPB News, I'm Riley Bunch.
Story 2
Peter Biello: More than 1.6 million Georgians cast ballots yesterday. Deputy Secretary of State Gabe Sterling, in a briefing last night, praised election administrators for a smooth and well-run election.
Gabe Sterling: Those 159 county election directors and all of their poll workers did an amazing job for the voters in Georgia. Record election day, record early vote and record use of an absentee in a midterm runoff. So we're happy, we're pleased with the outcomes of the — not the outcome, necessarily, of these things, we don't care about that. We care about good election administration and we had great election administration for the voters of Georgia.
Peter Biello: More than three and a half million Georgians voted in the runoff, setting an all-time midterm voting record. 1.9 million of those ballots were cast during the early voting period, also a mid-term record. Both candidates had pinned their hopes of success on turnout. For more on this race, we turn to Meg Kinnard, national politics reporter for the Associated Press, who covers the South. Meg, thank you very much for speaking with me.
Meg Kinnard: Of course. Thanks for having me.
Peter Biello: The state touted both the early voting and election day turnout numbers in this runoff. So how was turnout compared to previous runoffs?
Meg Kinnard: Turnout for the runoff was slightly more than we've seen in some other general elections, but it was actually lower than the runoff numbers from the Senate contests in 2021 in Georgia. Overall, there were about 4.5 million votes cast in those runoff elections. We saw something lower than that in the about, you know, three and a half, roughly under three and a half million range for this runoff. That's including early and mail votes. That's also 1.4 million votes on election day itself.
Peter Biello: And to what can we attribute that drop? Maybe it's hard to pinpoint it, but there was a shorter window to vote in this runoff than there were in previous runoffs.
Meg Kinnard: There was less time. There were four weeks to vote in the runoff as opposed to nine weeks in the previous contest we were just talking about. So that's one thing. There's also certainly a little bit of election fatigue that plays into some people's decisions to participate. There have been an awful lot of voting contests in Georgia over the past couple of years with all these Senate contests having gone to runoffs lately. So there's that. But there also was another factor at play here in that overall control of the U.S. Senate wasn't to be determined in this runoff. In the case of the 2021 runoff contests with Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff winning both of those for Democrats, that's what decided the overall control of the chamber. And this time that wasn't the case. We already knew that Democrats were going to have 50 seats in the Senate. And with Vice President Kamala Harris able to break any ties, they could already call themselves in control of the chamber. So there could have been some voters, frankly, either of the Republican or Democrat variety, not as interested in coming out for this contest, since the stakes were a little bit lower than the last time they had a runoff to vote in.
Peter Biello: When I spoke to voters at a Warnock event late last month, nearly all of them mentioned abortion and reproductive rights as a reason to vote for the Democrat in this race. Was that, from your perspective, the top issue here, or was there something else on the minds of voters above all else?
Meg Kinnard: Reproductive rights played into certainly a lot of voter decisions across the spectrum in the midterm elections. And for the perspective of Raphael Warnock, he ran on his record. And one of those things was maternal health, which certainly features into the overall issue of reproductive rights and reproductive health. Herschel Walker tried to make that into a bad argument for Raphael Warnock, and he tried to portray the Democratic incumbent as just a yes man for anything that the Biden administration wants, perhaps codifying abortion rights as one of those things. And so I think it's fair to say that all voters across the spectrum were thinking about reproductive-related rights and issues going into all of the elections this year due to the Supreme Court decision, earlier this year on the Dobbs case. But, you know, I think, too, when you look at Georgia particularly and also thinking about some of the arguments and stories that had come out about Herschel Walker and the allegations that he had funded abortions for some of his former girlfriends in the past. However, you feel about the issue of abortion itself, certainly some of that in terms of a candidate's personal relationship to it and what he had to say about it. I think that also probably played into the minds of at least some voters here.
Peter Biello: What does Herschel Walker's loss here say about former President Trump who endorsed him and Trump's influence in Georgia and the future of candidates who closely align with Trump?
Meg Kinnard: This is another one of those contests where the former president sought to play a role and the candidate he picked was not successful. I've talked to voters and elected officials who consider themselves Republicans from all over the country, and a lot of times they tell me that they personally perhaps would support Donald Trump on the ballot himself, but they're not as enthusiastic necessarily about candidates that he picks for them in their states. That's anecdotal and it's not representative, certainly, of voters overall. But when you look at this contest and think about the scenario in which it was happening: This was the final Senate contest of the 2022 midterms, so we had already seen candidates that Donald Trump had supported, many of them lose, particularly in some high contest, high-stakes Senate races across the country. And so knowing that track record and knowing going into this that the Senate control issue had by and large already been decided, I think that there it's likely that there were some voters who were looking at all of that and thinking, "You know, Donald Trump, he is making his own run for the presidency for 2024. So I can deal with him later. But perhaps I'm not as enthusiastic about supporting the Senate candidate on the sole basis that it's somebody that he would tell me to support."
Peter Biello: And what does Warnock's win mean for 2024? Does it have any implications for the proposed new Democratic presidential primary calendar in which Georgia takes a more prominent position?
Meg Kinnard: I think that it's fair to say that not only the fact that the Democratic Party has bumped up Georgia on its primary calendar for 2024, but also the fact that the three most recent Senate contests that have happened in Georgia have been this competitive and have all been won by Democrats. I think all of those things, certainly on behalf of Georgia Democrats, make a good argument that their state continues to be one to watch. Also coupled with that, the fact that there is a Republican governor in Brian Kemp, recently reelected in Georgia. So there are candidates on both sides of the aisle, recently elected in statewide positions in Georgia. And I think that in and of itself certainly makes a good argument that a state is a battleground and one to be closely watched in a presidential contest.
Peter Biello: Meg Kinnard, national politics reporter for the Associated Press. Thank you so much for speaking with me. Really appreciate it.
Meg Kinnard: Thank you. It was a pleasure.
Story 3
Peter Biello: After five months of organizing and community outcry, the iconic Star Community Bar in Atlanta's Little Five Points neighborhood is safe from demolition for at least another year. GPB's Amanda Andrews explains.
Amanda Andrews: Atlanta developers Third and Urban have pulled out of their controversial plan to put a commercial building in place of the iconic bar and music venue that opened in 1991. Now Star Bar owners are in talks to renew the lease for all of 2023. But co-owner Luke Lewis says they're still looking for a permanent solution.
Luke Lewis: Whether it be a long-term lease, a purchase of the building. Looking at a variety of options to ensure that the Star Bar is there for years to come for the next generation.
Amanda Andrews: In the next year, Lewis says they're looking to make improvements, including renovations, to a space for the entertainers and to potentially produce reunion shows for bigger acts. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.
Story 4
Peter Biello: Delta Air Lines has reached a tentative deal with its pilots over a new contract. A spokesperson for the Atlanta based company did not provide details on their proposal. But The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Delta is offering pilots a 34% pay raise over four years. It's a sign of the pilots' bargaining power and it could set a bar for other airlines as the industry grapples with pilot shortages. The deal still needs to be approved by union leaders and ratified by Delta pilots.
Story 5
Peter Biello: It is the biggest week of the year for high school sports in Georgia as the GHC Football Championships get underway tomorrow. Both the girls in flag football and the boys traditional football games will play their championships at Georgia State's Center Park Stadium. Joining me is the host of GPB Sports' Football Fridays in Georgia podcast, Jon Nelson. Hi, Jon.
Jon Nelson: Hi!
Peter Biello: Hello! So tell us what's going on with boys football this week?
Jon Nelson: Nothing.
Peter Biello: No — nothing in particular?
Jon Nelson: Nothing — that'll that'll do. That'll do. But it's 11 games. Well, for football in and of itself, it is — let me see: three, two — eight games in three days on GPB on all of our platforms and then flag football is what kicks us all off with three games themselves on Thursday. So it's five championship games on Thursday, three on Friday and three more on Saturday. And I won't be talking to anybody come Sunday.
Peter Biello: OK. So is this our Super Bowl this week, basically?
Jon Nelson: Yeah, this is Super Bowl. This is Daytona 500. It's the Stanley Cup Final. It's the NBA Final. It is March Madness. It is everything thrown into one gigantic pile where hundreds of folks here at Georgia Public Broadcasting sit there. And I mean, we have rehearsals and walkthroughs on Wednesday and the game is going on. I mean, it's all over the place and it's all hands on deck. And it's like trying to catch a comet by the tail or trying to catch rain through an open hand. That is what this week is here at GPB.
Peter Biello: Wow. OK, so what are the teams we should be really watching this week?
Jon Nelson: All of them. Choice D. Peter, we love all of our children equally.
Peter Biello: It's a running joke, now. I ask you that every interview.
Jon Nelson: And yes! That — that's — you see how this goes — it's like, I mean, you got first-timers like, there's a town in southwest Georgia, Ellaville. High school of 380 kids, Schley County High School, 23-year-old high school in the championships for the first time. And then you take that with the extreme in Gwinnett County, with one of the most populated counties and one of the most growing counties here in the state of Georgia — Mill Creek up in Hoschton up by Chateau Elan. First time that their program has ever made it. So in the extremes, you have a single-A, the smallest classification, a school there for the first time and in the largest classification, a team's there for the first time and they're nationally ranked. We got teams nationally ranked that are playing for championships. It is all over the place, man.
Peter Biello: Wow. Okay. And so —
Jon Nelson: And this is the non-caffeinated version of me talking to you about this.
Peter Biello: Well, tell me a little bit about the growth in flag football in particular. It seems like it's exploded lately.
Jon Nelson: It has. It started a couple of years ago with teams mainly in the metro Atlanta area: I think it was 29 schools that initially started with flag football. Now you have over 200; I want to say the number was 226. To give you an idea, there are just over 400 schools that play football on a football Friday night or Thursday or Saturday. So in three years you've basically gone, what, times 10? — in flag football, going from 29 to north of 200. And you're starting to get schools in Central Georgia and South Georgia that are playing flag football, too. And the cool thing about it is: we always post our replays of our championship games on the YouTube channel GPB Sports. Our flag football games are some of the ones that have the most views of the games that we post on the GPB Sports YouTube channel. And I swear there have been folks that sit there and say, "Man, I didn't know about flag football as a sanctioned sport. I love watching it." We get these kinds of comments on social media. People really dig watching flag football because of the athleticism.
Peter Biello: Really taken off. That's cool. And for the players at this level, is this a moment — this week in particular — a way to attract attention, possibly for scholarships or moving up to the next level of performance?
Jon Nelson: Well, actually — and what I'll tell you is this. I'll start with flag. Flag football, you have — and this was a great work that you guys did at Georgia Public Broadcasting on the radio side — you have schools that will offer scholarships to flag football athletes on the spot. We've had this happen after championship games where schools will offer scholarships to flag football athletes. And so it's a chance for them on the NAIA level and the lower division NCAA level. And we have all of these athletes that we focus on, on Recruiting 2022 that are getting looks from all the Division I's. But yeah, this is a chance for 1-AA — I just dated myself — FCS, Division II, Division III, all of these coaches that you just see just blanketing the sidelines and getting kids the chance to, to perhaps go to the next level and have looks from the different levels of classifications. I mean, like a Group of Five school, like the Mid-American Conference, might be interested in the kid, but then you see something, a performance that happens in championship weekend and they could go to a Power 5 school. Those kinds of that kind of growth happens as well.
Peter Biello: That's amazing. So lots to lots to see in sports, not.
Jon Nelson: Just a couple.
Peter Biello: All right. Check it out at GPB Sports. Yes.
Jon Nelson: GPB.org, GPB TV, The GPB Sports app. And we usually end up simulcasting on Twitter and on Facebook. I think we're even doing the TikToks now and the Twitch and all these kinds of things that I have no earthly idea about. But they tell me and it's like, "Here, we're going here," and I'm like, "OK, just tell me where to go."
Peter Biello: Jon Nelson is on all the TikToks.
Jon Nelson: I am on all the TikToks. That is absolutely correct, Peter. You've got me pegged.
Peter Biello: And Jon Nelson also the host of Football Fridays in Georgia at GPB. Jon, thank you so much.
Jon Nelson: Any time, my friend.
Peter Biello: You can watch all of the high school football championships live on GPBTV, the GPB website or on the GPB Sports app. And if you want more in-depth coverage of high school football here in Georgia, you can hear Jon along with Hannah Goodin on the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast. Find it wherever you get your podcasts. And that's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. We welcome your feedback as always. Send us an email. The address is GeorgiaToday@gpb.org. I'm Peter Biello. They'll see you tomorrow.
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